For now, no to international flights
MoD not giving permission despite Civil Aviation Ministry making city airport eligible for such flights Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 8
Chandigarh Airport will not have any international flights, at least in the immediate future. Senior officials in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), New Delhi, have clarified that the local airstrip was a base for the Air Force. Keeping in mind, its strategic location for catering to the western frontier, there was little likelihood of clearance from the MoD till alternatives were worked out.

The ministry had denied permission to Air Arabia, the first airlines which had announced flights from the city, earlier this year. The first international flight expected to commence from November 15, 2011, was also denied by the ministry. The flights were cancelled without giving any reason.

The ministry is not clearing international flights despite the Ministry of Civil Aviation having notified Chandigarh Airport as a "customs airport", making it eligible for international flights in August 2011.

Punjab Civil Aviation Secretary Vishwajeet Khanna said: "The Chief Minister has taken up the matter with the Ministry of Civil Aviation. We are still awaiting a formal communication."

HS Toor, Director of the airport, said he could not comment since the matter was pending with the MoD.

In January this year, Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukbhir Singh Badal had said international flights would commence in two months. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had sought a formal clearance for international flights from the Civil Aviation Minister.

A senior official, requesting anonymity, said: "There is a sizable number of flights providing ration and ammunition to soldiers in Kashmir and Leh and Ladakh. During winter, which lasts about five months, the public and troops in these areas depend on the Air Force for even routine supplies. Chandigarh has two transport squadrons comprising AN32s and another one having a mix of AN-32s and I-76s, besides Mi-26 helicopters."

It was also said the local terminal would need an upgraded air traffic control (ATC) for handling added rush. The runway as well as the ATC of the airport is at present being managed by the Air Force. International flights would mean more staff, which needs a formal clearance from the MoD. Most importantly, the airport does not have night landing facilities. There is also no confirmation about any contract with international airlines.

Jarnail Singh Jodhan, a Ludhiana-based businessman, said: "It is being said since the Congress was unable to form a government in Punjab, the Centre would not like the Akalis to take credit for international flights. It is disappointing for thousands of people, especially Punjabis, who come from abroad and are forced to land in Delhi."

Bhupinder Singh, a Canadian national, said: "I think the matter of international flights being delayed needs a high-level inquiry. There are serious allegations of the powerful lobby in the travel business, including hotels, cabs and related services not allowing an international airport in Chandigarh."

Vineet Sharma, a travel agent, said even local tourists who had started going abroad, particularly Bangkok were concerned about the international flights landing in the city.

Pikender Pal Singh, Regional Director of the CII (northern region) said no international client would like to spend an extra day in the onward or backward journey.

Chandigarh, June 8
Cutting across party lines, members of the house tax assessment committee today unanimously rejected the proposal of the imposition of house tax and enhancement of commercial tax in the city. During an interaction with the media here today, committee chairman Sat Parkash Aggarwal said it was decided that neither house tax would be imposed in the city nor would commercial tax be revised as directed by the UT Administration.

Objecting to the delay in the payment of a matching grant of property tax, which the Administration had assured in 2004 when commercial tax was imposed by the corporation, he stated that the Administration had to pay Rs 48 crore since 2004. He said even after several reminders, the Administration had not released the funds to date. Hence, they could not impose a new tax.

Clueless about the norms of getting JNNRUM grant, Aggarwal said the corporation was "rich" and there was no need for any kind of grant from the Administration or the Centre to implement development projects in the city.

He said directions had been given to officials to conduct a fresh survey about commercial buildings and impose property tax on it. The committee also asked about the details of habitual defaulters of property tax and instructed the department to take stringent action to recover pending tax from them.

MC Additional Commissioner Lalit Siwach said a communication was being sent to the Administration to release the pending share of the matching grant of property tax. He said the Administration would also be apprised of the decision of the house tax assessment committee and the decision would be tabled in the forthcoming meeting of the House.

"Ignoring" the fact if the committee has any power to reject the imposition of new tax, vice-chairman of the committee MP Kohli said the committee could pass the resolution and send it to the Administration for consideration.

He said the grant which the Administration would get from JNNRUM would not only be utilised by the corporation, but also other departments. Commercial property tax was imposed by the corporation when there was a financial crunch, but now as the financial position had improved, there was no need to impose any new tax to generate funds.

The committee also directed the officials to prepare a detailed report on the share of grant-in-aid received from the Administration in the past.

Chandigarh, June 8
The financial reserves of the Municipal Corporation (MC) are declining due to the untimely receipt of the annual grant-in-aid from the UT Administration for the last three years. As per the budget reports of the corporation for the past three years, neither the aid nor the matching grant of revenue receipts has been released by the Administration.

During the financial year 2011-12, the MC authorities incurred Rs 144 crore from fixed deposits as the MC had anticipated a grant of Rs 692 crore, but received only Rs 206 crore in the last financial year. Out of this, Rs 164 crore had been received from the Administration till March and the next two instalments of Rs 42 crore had not been released so far.

A senior official said last year the Administration did not release the revenue receipt grant of 16 per cent to the MC.

Similarly in 2010-11, the Administration did not release the pending grant of Rs 288 crore under various heads to the civic body till February, even after a number of reminders from the MC authorities. The MC had also not received advertisement tax from the Administration.

As per the records, the corporation is not getting an incentive of 3 per cent on property tax, which comes to about Rs 48 crore, as assured by the Administration when the tax was imposed by the MC in 2006.

Sources said when the corporation rejected the proposal of imposing 10 per cent property tax twice in the General House in 2006, the Administration sent a missive, saying the MC would get 3 per cent share as incentive only if it imposed property tax in the city.

Sources said the MC received the incentive only for two years.

The Administration had also assured a liberal grant for the beautification of the Industrial Area (Phases I and II) after allotting the work to the corporation, but the grant is still awaited.

A senior official said after the completion of work in the Industrial Area, the Administration refused to release any payment on the plea that it would do so once it got the funds deposited in the consolidated fund of the Government of India. A grant of around Rs 15 crore was pending with the Administration to date, the official added.

Chandigarh, June 8
The cyber cell of the UT police today arrested a Mohali couple for copying a software developed by a company and selling the duplicate to dealers abroad, causing losses to the company.

Acting on the complaint of Sanjay Aggarwal, a Manimajra resident, the police today arrested Rajat Basin and his wife Taranjot, residents of Phase VI, Mohali.

Inspector Sri Parkash, in charge of the cyber cell, said the couple was employed with a company in the IT park. They allegedly stole a code of the software developed by the company for sale to dealers in the US. The software pertained to a driving school. They then created a duplicate software and sold it to dealers in the US. The police had registered a case on May 29.

Chandigarh, June 8
Sukhna Lake has turned into a virtual swamp with boats getting stuck in the muddy waters today. A fractional number of the already dwindling number of boating enthusiasts shouted for help and the staff at the lake could be seen running into the water puddle and dragging the boats to the shore.

The new platform created for walking up to the boats and parking ‘shikaras’ has taken up a majority of the space where the water levels are slightly better than other parts of the lake. The number of tourists showing interest in boating has also gone down, as was evident from very poor occupancy.

Depleting water levels has forced the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) to postpone its plans for introducing more peddle and even motor boats at the lake. It is strange that while the existing strength of approximately 85 boats are not being put to optimum use, the Administration planned to purchase more boats.

Dinesh Bali, director of a communications company, said: “I cannot believe I am seeing the beauty of the lake not fading or ageing, but approaching its end. Over the past 25 years, there have been times when the waters dried up, but things were never this bad. I hope when it rains, the lake will fill up again. But when it dries up again, there will be a bigger dry patch which will keep increasing.”

Experts say the shallow waters are perfect breeding grounds for weed. The weed will continue to shrink the lake. Vikas Sood, a research scholar in botany, said water stored in the catchment area should be released. The tract has over 190 silt retention dams. This opinion was, however, challenged by another research scholar, Amit Narang, who said: “If water from the reserve forest area was flowed into the lake, the vegetation and animals there would suffer. Silt would also flow into the lake in a bigger quantity and lead to the choking up of the water reserve.”

Puneet Gill, a businessman, said: "We had come all the way from a village near Muktsar to enjoy boating here. My son said the lake had more mud in it than even the pond in our village."

Their determination inspires
Visually impaired students come out with flying colours in PSEB Class XII examination
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 8
Students of Institute for Blind, Sector 26, have come out with flying colours yet again in the Class XII examination conducted by the Punjab School Education Board, the result of which was declared today.

The school has achieved 100 per cent result, with a majority of students scoring above 70 per cent.

While Vikram Goyal stood first with 81.6 per cent, Poonam and Amod Sharma shared second position with 81.3 per cent. Abhishek Kumar got 80.5 per cent and stood
third.

Manjit Kaur, mother of Amrinder Singh, one of the meritorious students of the school, who had come to thank his teachers, said, "My son is specially abled as he has left many students behind. He has always excelled in studies and we are happy with his achievement."

People argue with firemen after the fire broke out in Sector 15, Panchkula, on Friday.
Tribune photos: Nitin Mittal

Panchkula, June 8
Material worth nearly Rs 1 crore was destroyed in a fire that broke out at 10 cabins in a showroom the Sector 15 market here today. The shops were completely gutted. Shopkeepers alleged that no one responded to calls made to the fire brigade office. When the police informed the fire brigade, it took half-hour to reach the spot.

The shops that were burnt include a boutique and a documentation
centre.

It was around 5.30 am that the fire was noticed and labourers sleeping nearby raised the alarm. Immediately, the shutters were broken and it was found that the fire had engulfed the documentation centre.
Many calls were made to the emergency number 101 of the fire brigade, but no one responded, said Vijay Sharma, president of the Sector 15 market committee. The police sent a vehicle to the fire brigade to inform the firemen about the incident. The fire engines reached the spot around 6.15 am, by which time the fire had engulfed all the cabins in the showroom.

"I lost material worth over Rs 15 lakh in the fire," said Satish Gandhi, a cloth merchant.

"Computers and Xerox machines along with other machinery worth over Rs 25 lakh was destroyed," claimed Kewal Thakur, owner of the documentation centre.

ASI Gurmail Singh said shopkeepers contacted him at 5.55 am and he tried to inform the fire brigade office on the emergency number, which was connected to the fire brigade of Chandigarh. "I then sent police personnel to the local fire brigade office and fire engines were rushed to the spot," he said.

Fire brigade officer RP Dhul said they received the information at 6.10 am and immediately three fire engines were pressed into service. The fire was controlled within half-hour.

Mohali: A fire broke out at a furniture market near Laknour. The fire was brought under control well in time.

Sources said that about 100 bundles of coir caught fire. The fire brigade used two fire tenders to douse the flames. The fire could spread due to the windy weather that could cause large-scale damage. The fire was controlled in about two hours. —
OC

Fire on hills

Kalka: A major fire broke out on the hills adjacent to Kalka. The fire broke out in the afternoon, which continued till the filing of the report. The fire flames could be seen from the Kalka City.

The eyewitnesses said that the fire gutted several bigas of area on the hill adjacent to Mata Naina Devi Temple, which further spread in the forest of Himachal Pradesh on the hill. A large panic spread among the villagers of Oraian, Dhamolia villages, adjacent to Naina Devi Temple.

The police arrested two students of Panjab University in a case of brawl at hostel number 6 last night. A student, Dharminder
Bishnoi, sustained injuries following the scuffle and was admitted to Government Multi Speciality Hospital, Sector 16. The police has arrested
Saleem, a resident of Sector 24-C, and Hardeep Singh, a resident of
Mansa, Punjab, for beating up and threatening Bishnoi. It said the three entered into a scuffle in the hostel mess while having dinner last night. A case under Sections 323, 506, 34 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 11 police station.

Anti-malaria camp

The National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme organised an anti-malaria camp in Colony No.4. Dr Naresh Kumar, programme officer, NVBDCP-cum-SSO
(IDSP), Chandigarh, inaugurated the camp. Dr Naresh highlighted various activities being carried out by the staff during the anti-malaria camp. He urged residents to make their houses mosquito proof.

International day against drug abuse

Various activities, including lectures, cultural programmes and plays will be held at various anganwari
centres, schools, colleges and institutions on International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26. During a meeting held by the department of social welfare here today, it was decided that programmes aiming at sensitising people against the ill-effects of drug abuse would be held.

Mohali, June 8
Varun Roojam, Commissioner of the Mohali Municipal Corporation, said that a special campaign should be launched to remove all encroachments from the town, especially those proving to be traffic hazards, at a meeting held with the Civic Body, GMADA and other officials here
today.

Roojam, who is also the Deputy Commissioner, said that strict action should be initiated against violators and those who try to create hurdles in way of removing encroachments would not be spared. Encroachments should be removed without any biases. Since Mohali was the entry point to Punjab there was a need to improve the look of the town, he added.

He directed officials to improve the state of parks in the town so that the open areas could be properly used by residents for walking purposes. Non-functional streetlights should also be set
right.

Jagjit Singh Shahi, executive officer of the civic body, said that a drive to remove encroachments was carried out on the directions of the Commissioner. Phases VII and IX to XI were covered. Encroachments by fruit and vegetable sellers and others selling eatables were removed during the drive. The authorities concerned were provided with the police protection.

Mohali, June 8
A girl child was found abandoned at Sector 69 here today. According to reports, the three-month old child was wrapped in a cloth and was abandoned on the premises of a private hospital in the area.

An employee of the hospital spotted the child and informed the hospital authorities. The matter was brought to the notice of the police. The condition of the child is said to be stable and has been kept in the hospital.

Chandigarh, June 8
Two children suffering from cholera were admitted to a hospital in Panchkula. The two have been identified as Rupesh (4), a resident of from Mauli Jagran, and Anita (2), a resident of Indira colony, Mani
Majra. Gomti Prasad, Rupesh’s father, said his son had been vomiting for the past few days and doctors had diagnosed him
with cholera. Residents of Mani Majra have been complaining of muddy water supply for the past many days.

Wasim Mohammad,
president of Janta Rehri Market, Mani Majra, said tg dirty water was being supplied to the area. Officials at Panchkula Genreal Hospital said the information regarding the cases had been passed on to the Chandigarh health department.

The symposium will be followed by a public awareness forum and a first-patient support group meeting for morbidly obese patients at 5 pm at Lecture Theatre 1.

During the session, the general public will be apprised of problems related to obesity like diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiac diseases, stroke, osteoarthritis, risk of cancer and infertility.

Obesity, in fact, has become a serious problem in the last decade afflicting all age groups. The magnitude of the problem can be assessed by the fact that in Punjab nearly one-third of the people are obese.

Chandigarh, June 8
A sniffer dog of the UT police helped nab two thieves within hours after a house belonging to a Class IV employee of Panjab University was ransacked on the campus today. The dog "Micheal" went to another house in the neighbourhood immediately after he sniffed items in the ransacked house. The police got vital clues and arrested the two thieves, one of whom was a resident of that house in which the dog had entered. It also recovered all the stolen booty from them. Police officials said it was for the first time that a sniffer dog had helped them nab thieves.

Joginder Singh, who is a Class IV employee of Panjab University, had gone to Kasauli on June 6 with his family. Joginder has been allotted an accommodation in the university. On return today, he found the locks of the house broken and jewellery, along with Rs 3,300 in cash, missing.

A team from the Sector 11 police station reached the spot with a dog squad.

Inspector Gurmukh Singh, SHO, Sector 11 police station, said as the police team came out of the house, the dog headed to the back lane and entered another house, which made the police suspicious.

That particular house belonged to another Class IV employee of PU. On questioning the family members residing in that house, the police found that the elder son, Vikas, was missing. During interrogation, it came to light that Vikas was planning "something" the previous night with his friend who resides in the Sector 25 colony. The police also learnt that Vikas was known for his notorious ways.

It raided the house of Vikas's friend in the Sector 25 colony when they recovered the stolen booty from the house and arrested the two from there.

The arrested have been identified as Sunny, a resident of Sector 25, and Vikas, alias Vicky, a resident of Panjab University. The accused will be produced in the court tomorrow and a case under Sections 380,457 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 11 police station.

Booty recovered

The dog with us was the first to enter the ransacked house where the theft had occurred. After sniffing around, it came out and went to the back lane and entered another house. On questioning the inmates of that house, we discovered that one of the family members was missing. We raided his friend's house in the colony and recovered all the stolen booty from
there.

Mohali, June 8
The department of health and family welfare has handed over appointment letters to over 135 newly appointed regular specialist doctors here today.

A two-day orientation training programme was also conducted for the new appointees, which concluded today. They were given orientation regarding various national health programmes and other important schemes of the department.

Vini Mahajan, principal secretary, health and family welfare, Punjab, welcomed the newly appointed doctors to the department and urged them to perform their duties selflessly and with utmost dedication.

Seventy children participated in a fashion show today as part of DLF City Centre’s Kids’ Mania Magic Carnival. The children looked like miniatures of supermodels as they sashayed down the ramp showcasing stylish designer wears. The fashion show saw participation in two age groups: 3 to 6 years and 7 to 12 years. The high point came when the winners of the ‘Most Fashionable Boy & Girl Contest’ were declared. The children were judged by Sadhna
Sondhi, TV Actress and Ravneet Sandhu, Assistant Director of Punjabi Movie ‘Ek Kudi Punjab
Di.’ In the 3-6 years most sashionable girl was Sana and boy was Aarnav
Makhani. In the 7-12 age category, Arjun Arora was the most fashionable boy and Pashmeen the most fashionable girl.

Conference on technologies

A two-day conference on Advance Computing and Technologies, organised by Gurukul Vidyapeeth Institute of Engineering and Technology, was inaugurated today at CII Sector 31. The conference was hosted to discuss the complex world of information and technology and how proper use of technology can create greater efficiency for business and society. The objective of the conference was to serve a common platform for the exchange of ideas and research in global world through invited talks by leading experts.

National portal on missing children

The Government of India, Ministry of Women & Child Development, New Delhi, has developed the national website on missing children tracking system (MCTS). The website will not only have data on missing children but it will also have live database to monitor the progress of the children in the child care institutions. NIC will be developing Software Recruitment Specifications for creating a uniform MCTS system, which will be replicated in those states where there is no system for tracing missing children and it will also undertake a gap analysis of various existing systems to develop bridging software to link it up with the National Portal.

Book release

Prof NN Wig releases a book at the Press Club, Sector 27, in Chandigarh on Friday.
Tribune Photo: Pradeep Tewari

Dr NN Wig, renowned psychiatrist and Professor Emeritus, PGI, Chandigarh, released a book on Community Mental Helath in India at Press Club here today. The book has been authored by Dr BS Chavan, Professor and Head, Psychiatry Department, GMCH, his colleagues Dr Preeti Arun, Dr Ajit Sidana, Dr Nitin Gupta and London Based Dr Sushrut. The book is focused on the people, who despite suffering from mental illness avoid visiting the hospitals. Outreaching such patients and treating them and effective prevention as well as their human right violations are taken care of in the book, said
Dr Chavan, the editor-in-chief.

Day one: 9,500 admission forms sold
Parents panic, apprehending govt school prospectuses are running out of stockTribune News Service

Students take a look at the prospectus.

Chandigarh, June 8
It appears to be a sort of a record as around 9,500 prospectuses were sold on the first day of government school admissions today.

The education department authorities and officials of GMSSS, Sector 19, 21, 10, 40, 46 and Manimajra, were surprised on the turn-out. Hundreds of parents queued up in school premises from 9am to get the prospectus.

The initial lot of prospectuses supplied to all schools finished within an hour. The sell was stalled for half-an-hour as more prospectuses were supplied by DEO office. Most of the parents had to wait for almost an hour to get the prospectus.

“The turn out has surely come as a surprise to us. The last day is June 20 but everybody seems to be desperate to get the forms on the first day. Many parents said they fear the prospectuses are going out of stock. We want to assure that we have enough prospectuses and forms and they should not panic. Same goes for submission of form. Students should take time while filing the forms,” said DEO Ram Kumar.

The rush, according to other officials, is an outcome of exceptionally brilliant Class X results. Also because private schools admissions are already closed, they said.

“A majority of private schools completed their admissions process on provisional basis so those who chose to wait till results have to go to government schools. Moreover, the government school timing is also a big lure as they allow student to attend coaching,” said one of the principals.

Students in a fix
Less time to apply in government colleges
Amit Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 8
The delay in releasing joint prospectus by the government colleges has left the students with fewer days’ time to apply in five government colleges.

The colleges are getting hundreds of queries everyday from anxious students.

The private colleges, on the other hand, have released their prospectus.

Official sources said the prospectus is expected to be released by June 16 and that it would have two forms. They also said the last date for submission of forms will be June 30 for BSc and other courses, while the admission to BA course would be held on the spot. This year the Postgraduate Government College Sector-11 has been given the responsibility of printing the prospectus.

“Students from neighbouring states would face problem due to the delay,” said a teacher at Government College.

While the principal of PGGC-11, JS Raghu, didn’t respond to the calls, principal of PGGCG-42 Mani Bedi said, “The prospectus will be available tentatively on June 16 to all colleges, while the last day for applying for courses, except BA, would be June 30.”

Bedi accepted that the college is getting number of queries from the students over the issue. He also said that the delay won’t make much difference.

Chandigarh, June 8
With the student organisation at PU getting active in the wake of new academic session to start next month, the PU authorities today held an all-party meeting of student organisations in a bid to ensure peace in the campus. Police officials also attended the meeting.

The student leaders were issued instructions over pasting the posters at the designated places in the university or else they would be booked under the defacement act and penalised by PU authorities.

PU authorities have decided to remove the posters pasted on campus other then the notice boards and have asked the student leaders to paste the posters only at the designated notice boards.

The meeting was chaired by the Dean Student Welfare (DSW) AS Ahluwalia which was attended by other PU officials and SHO sector 11 police station Gurmukh Singh. Chief Security Officer (CSO) PK Dhawan said that the student leaders have been warned of indulging in violent activities and restrict the entry of non-students on the campus.

Movement of outsiders on the campus would be checked and student leaders have also been asked to restrain outsiders from involving in university politics¯, Dhawan said.

Chandigarh, June 8
A deputation of teachers from PU affiliated colleges met Vice-chancellor RC Sobti today to demand complete parity of rules for librarians and DPEs with that of the teachers, including voting right in the Senate as well as vacations and leaves.

The deputation was led by Professor Jatinder Sharma, Panjab University Area Secretary, PCCTU, and Professor Jaspal Kaur Bhatia, chairperson of Confederation of Libraries’ of North India (COLNI) and secretary of Chandigarh Librarians’ Association (CLA).

The teachers stated that as per the PU calendar, DPEs and librarians of affiliated colleges are at par with the teachers. Yet they are denied complete parity with the teachers, whereas the latest recruitment and promotion rules in UGC guidelines based on Academic Performance Indicators (API) scores are identical with those of other teachers.

The teachers further stated that the rules for leaves adopted by PU colleges for librarians are entirely different than the DPEs and the teachers. Teachers and DPEs enjoy same rules, the said.

“The DPEs and librarians of degree colleges are denied any representation at academic bodies like, academic council and Senate. Whereas librarians and instructors of professional colleges are well represented along with the teachers,” said the teachers.

The deputation included Dr PS Gill, a Senate member and Professor Gurmej Singh Maan, a librarian.

Chandigarh, June 8
Panjab University has extended the last date for applying for MEd courses to June 16.

PU is conducting entrance tests for admission to MEd courses ie MEd (regular) for Department of Education, Panjab University, Colleges of Education, in Chandigarh and Punjab affiliated to Panjab University, and also for MEd (2-year correspondence course for in-service teachers). While the last date for applying online is June 16, the last date for depositing fee in any branch of State Bank of India using website generated challan is June 19. The last date for submission of fee details and uploading photograph, signature with rest of the information is June 21. The entrance test will be held on July 15. — TNS

Chandigarh, June 8
Sunil Kumar, son of a washer man, was conferred with Late Dr GC Mishra Memorial Award of Excellence at KB DAV School today for getting 2791th rank in IIT-JEE 2012.

The Late Dr GC Mishra Educational and Charitable Trust also honoured four EWS Class XII students, including: Manisha, student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Manimajra, for getting 92.8 per cent in commerce; Ritika, for scoring 90.2 per cent in commerce; Priyanka, who secured 93 per cent in non-medical and Shweta, who got 90.2 per cent
non-medical.

Education secretary VK Singh praised the students for their efforts. The award was given by VK Singh finance-cum-education secretary.